- This is the last of our videos
for World Bicycle Relief week here at GCN,
helping to change lives through the power of bicycles.
In this, we take a closer look at the tech specs
of a Buffalo bike and why it's built the way it is.
Don't forget to make a donation.
Just head to gcn.eu/wbr.
(lively music)
(drumbeats)
This week's pro bike is not, as you can see,
a pro bike at all.
This is a World Bicycle Relief Buffalo bike
which has been donated to, and is now owned,
by a girl called Juliet, a 13-year-old student,
very much like Lizzy, in fact,
who hopefully you will have seen on the channel recently
as we followed her throughout her day.
They use these bikes to go and fetch clean drinking water
in the mornings, and then to go to and from school.
So although this is by far the cheapest bike
we've ever had featured on GCN, it is also,
by far, the most important.
One of the key parts of a Buffalo bike is
that it is extremely durable and able to cover
lots of rugged terrain and miles a day,
with the minimum amount of maintenance.
So along with the very robust steel frame and forks
and other components, it's also only got one gear,
and I can tell you firsthand that is not
because Zambia is a very flat country.
It's just because that means there's far less maintenance,
which is another crucial part of a Buffalo bike.
They don't want to be fixing gears every couple of weeks.
And the frame, as you see it here, has remained the same now
for over five years.
Originally they had a female version and a male version,
with like a double top tube, but they've settled on this,
which is kind of in between.
It makes it simpler and a little bit
more cost effective for them.
The only other change over recently has been the covering
of the saddle, which is over four times the thickness
of the original covering, which means it's less prone
to scuffs and to rips.
Equally robust are the tyres, which are now provided
by Kenda, a company that World Bicycle Relief
have been working with very closely over the past couple
of years to develop these special tyres
with a special compound which means that they will last
for years as opposed to months on the very rugged terrain.
Two of the most important parts of the bike, though,
are located here at the rear.
First of all, we've got the kickstand down here
which provides support when it is under load.
And the rack at the top, which of course
is where you place the load.
And this bike is capable of taking a load
of up to 100 kilogrammes on top of the rider themselves.
And I can tell you, it really is quite robust.
I'm 75 kilogrammes now myself and it can easily support me,
so if you are Lizzy, it might be that you pick up
a fellow student and take them the last kilometre
or so into school.
Or if you're a parent that's using this bike,
you can put a couple of your smaller children
on the back and take them into school.
Or for farmers, it's also really important,
because they can take their milk from the cattle
and take it to the collection centre.
So how much does this thing weigh in at?
Well, it comes in at five kilogrammes...
for the frame.
The entire bike comes in at 24 kilogrammes.
It really is quite hard to pick up, but it is built,
as I said, for those huge loads, and when you add up
the 24 kilogrammes to the perhaps 50 kilogrammes on the back
plus the rider weight, that's a lot of weight
to be taking over the terrain
that I have seen firsthand some of the riders cycling over
over the last few days.
How much does this thing cost then?
Well all it takes is 150 dollars of your very kind donations
to get this into the hands of a student that really needs it
and it can make such a huge difference to their lives.
And as I said, you can make that difference.
You can get this into the hands of a student who owns it,
and that is a really important point,
because these aren't just given out randomly.
They are given to the students who are most in need,
who are living furthest away from the schools,
up to 17 kilometres I've seen over the past few days.
Now we would dearly love to exceed the amount
that you lot raised for World Bicycle Relief a little
under 12 months ago.
Last year we raised enough money to provide 150 students
with Buffalo bikes and I would love to get
over the 200 mark this time around.
Any donation is very much appreciated by us,
by World Bicycle Relief, but mostly by the people
over here in Zambia and the other developing countries
that World Bicycle Relief are helping.
It doesn't matter how big or how small a donation is,
it all counts and it is all very much worthwhile.
All the details and how to donate
your very hard-earned cash is in the description just below,
so please click on that and donate what you can.
Now if you haven't seen firsthand what these bikes are used
for just yet, if you click just down here,
we follow a 13-year-old girl called Lizzy
on her daily routine, whilst on the other side there,
we followed a farmer whilst he took his milk
to the local distribution centre.